Slides about Research on Peer Instruction

Dr. Stephanie V. Chasteen Physics Department & Science Ed. InitiativeUniversity of Colorado – Boulderhttp://STEMclickers.colorado.eduStephanie.Chasteen@colorado.edu

Co-presenters have included Steven Pollock, Jenny Knight, Trish Loeblein, and Kathy Perkins.

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Credit should be given to: Stephanie Chasteen and the Science Education Initiative at the University of Colorado, http://colorado.edu/sei

About these slides

We have created a variety of workshops on clickers and Peer Instruction for faculty and K12 teachers. These slides represent the presentations and activities that we have produced through this work. You are free to use this material with proper attribution (see previous slide).

Not all slides or activities were used in every workshop.

Activities are designated with a peach background to the slide

You can find the full handouts and activity descriptions under Workshop Materials at http://STEMclickers.colorado.edu

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T hese me t a -s l i des p rov ide a l i t t l e b i t o f i n f o rma t i on f o r you abou t ou r p resen t e r and

wha t we a re t r y i ng t o do w i t h ou r p ro f ess iona l deve lopmen t wo rkshops .

Overview

Introducing Me5

Applying scientific principles to improve science education – What are students learning, and which instructional approaches improve learning?

Science Education Initiative

Physics Education Research Group

One of largest PER groups in nation, studying technology, attitudes, classroom practice, & institutional change.

http://colorado.edu/SEI

http://PER.colorado.edu

Blogger & Consultant

http://sciencegeekgirl.comCreative Commons – Attribution. Please attribute Stephanie Chasteen / Science Education Initiative/ CU-Boulder

U. Colorado clicker resources…6

Videos of effective use of clickers

http://STEMclickers.colorado.eduClicker resource page

http://STEMvideos.colorado.edu

2-5 mins long

• Instructor’s Guide• Question banks• Workshops• Literature / Articles

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“Clickers” are really just a focal point

We aim to help instructors:Use student-centered, interactive teaching

techniquesBy the use of a tool (clickers) which makes a

transition to that pedagogy easier

Our talks are “how people learn” talks in disguise.

Bransford, Brown, Cocking (1999), How People Learn

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The typical pattern of professional development for faculty…

(we) Tell them how to do it (they) Try it (they) Fail or fade (we) Repeat (louder!)

In physics, half of faculty only use Peer Instruction for a single semester

What’s missing? We need to help faculty anticipate challenges and difficulties with

implementing peer instruction. Lose the rose-colored glasses! We also need to provide less prescriptive “do this, don’t do that”

recommendations, which are hard to remember, and instead provide a pedagogical strategy which will naturally lead to those “best practices”

These workshop materials are intended to help overcome some of the challenges to sustainable improvements in teaching, as based on the research on instructional change.

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8

How we try to accomplish goals:

Give a clear introduction to peer instruction. What does it really look like?

Give experience in peer instruction. How does it feel as a student? As an instructor?

Provide disciplinary experience. Give examples from multiple disciplines; have instructors sit next to others who teach in their subject area

Why does it work? The research.Respect their experience. Answer their

questions/challenges, rather than being gung-ho salesman.Provide opportunity for practice and feedback. Especially

in writing questions and facilitation.Practice what we preach. Do all this in a student-centered,

interactive environment. Don’t lecture about how not to lecture.

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Creative Commons – Attribution. Please attribute Stephanie Chasteen / Science Education Initiative/ CU-Boulder

F o l l ow ing a re a va r i e t y o f s l i des h i gh l i gh t i ng key f i nd ings r ega rd ing t he e f f ec t i veness o f c l i c ke rs . We l i ke t o h i gh l i gh t t he r esea rch t o show t ha t we ’ re no t “ se l l i ng snake o i l , ” bu t

a t t he same t ime we f i nd t ha t t oo much t ime on t he r esea rch can be du l l . P rev ious s t ud ies have f ound t ha t i ns t r uc t o r s

a ren ’ t * conv inced* t o use a new t echn ique based on resea rch : r a t he r, t hey a re conv inced because a t echn ique seems l i ke good t each ing , o r a co l l eague pe rsuades t hem, and t hen t hey use t he resea rch t o * j us t i f y * wha t t hey have

chosen t o do . T hus , i t i s good t o show t ha t t he re i s r esea rch t o back up t he t echn ique bu t no t spend t oo much

t ime on i t . L i nks t o key s t ud ies a re a t h t t p : / / s t em c l i c ke r s . Co lo rado . Edu .

Research about peer instruction

Peer instruction helps students learn

Research shows that:Students can better answer a similar question

after talking to their peersPeer discussion + instructor explanation of

question works better than either one aloneStudents like peer instructionPeer instruction classes outperform

traditional lectures on a common test

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See http://STEMclickers.colorado.edu for various references

Clicker Question

Honestly, I think that I’m most likely to modify this technique of peer instruction to suit me and my students. I know that there are at least ___ parts of the technique that I’ll be changing:

A. NoneB. OneC. Two-threeD. Four or more

Is there a problem with modifications?

I won’t tell you how to teach. You’re smart & you care about instruction.

Be strategic about modifications. Know the research.

Some research on modifications

63.5% of faculty (in physics) say they are familiar with Peer Instruction

30% report that they use Peer Instruction50% of those use Peer Instruction in the way

described by developersOften dropped are:

Student discussion Use of conceptual questions Whole-class voting

Dancy & Henderson, Pedagogical practices and instructional change of faculty, Am. J. Phys., 78(10), Oct 2010.Web survey of 722 physics faculty at various institutions, initial sample of 2000.

Is this a problem?Probably.

15

Talking brings convergence16

Eric Mazur - Harvard

U.

Before discussion

B CA

After discussion

B CA

Mazur, 1997

Why do you think this happens?(A) Students are getting answers from the ‘smart’ kids (B) They’re learning from their discussions (C) They just needed more time to think about it

The hypothesis: If students learn from peer discussion, they should show better performance on a similar question. Ask a second, similar question without any instructor input: Q2

Undergrad introductory genetics course. 16 Q1/Q2 pairs.

Smith et al., Science. 2009, 323(5910):122.

Research by Michelle Smith, Bill Wood, Wendy Adams, Carl Wieman, Jenny Knight, Nancy Guild, Tin Tin Su, MCDB.

n= 350 students

Smith et al., Science. 2009, 323(5910):122.

Are they learning from peers?

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Then explain answers to Q1 and Q2

Students answer Q1 individually.

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Students talk to neighbors and answer Q1 again (Q1AD = Q1“After

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Students answer Q2 individually . Q2 tests same concept as Q1.

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Can students answer difficult questions correctly after discussion?

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Very few students knew correct answer to Q1, but after discussion, many more answer correctly: students are constructing their own knowledge

Smith et al., Science. 2009, 323(5910):122.